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I hate to write book descriptions–or, blurbs most writers call them, which we all know are key to selling a book.

Blurbing (not a verb, but it is in my mind) should be an Olympic event. Think about it. You take several long, meaningful, and carefully thought out paragraphs that describe the story you just spent weeks or months, maybe years, writing then you mince said paragraphs into bite-size fragments designed to tantalize, tease, tell the reader just enough about the book to make her slap down her hard-earned money to buy it.

I’m terrible at it. Really bad. So, I signed up for a BestPageForward Webinar on the subject. (I’ll share the replay link below in case you’re interested.) I learned a lot. I learned that this process is really hard, completely subjective and brutally tough on the ego. You have two choices: develop a split personality or hire it done.

Since all my “pin-money,” as my late mother-in-law would say, is earmarked for my website remodel, I’m going with split-personality. Writer-girl is hiding under the covers while blurb-girl gets out her erase key and thesaurus.

Here’s my BEFORE and AFTER. I consider both works-in-progress and will take any/all suggestions gratefully.

Here’s something I find amusing:

Valentine’s Day fell on Ash Wednesday this year.

Today is Chinese New Year!

Easter will be on April Fool’s Day.

Can you tell I love reading the calendar?

How was your V-Day? Mine was routine because my hubby, bless his soul, was born without a romance gene. He means well, but the whole “one day of shouting out embarrassing professions of love” just isn’t his style. He likes to say, “I show you how much I love you every day…by working.”

He has a point. I used his tractor to haul the garbage cans to the community dumpster so he didn’t have to–that’s love, right? 😉

But we do have our mushy moments and we mouth, “I love you,” way more often than is probably necessary. (We’re old. We forget.)

I hope you had a lovely day of romance, complete with bling, baubles, and bubbly.

In case you missed it, I’m part of a fun Facebook promotion that runs through the 18th with some of the coolest authors on the planet. Instead of mushy Valentine sayings, we went for direct and honest.

Have a great weekend of reading! 🙂

Deb

He’s a very angry racer snake. Not poisonous. Definitely not as happy to meet us and we were to meet him. I shared the teaching moment then let him return to his business.

Same day, my daughter fell and broke her right wrist in two places and sprained her left wrist while carrying the baby’s highchair back into the house.

My poor baby is the mother of three, including my youngest granddaughter who is only 1-year old. Try explaining to a one-year-old that Mommy can’t pick her up because her arm hurts. 🙁

But on the UP side, my friend Teresa Hill has put together this fun collection of heroes from books that currently are FREE or 99¢. Take your pick from Donna, Fasano, Lisa Mondello, Patricia Keelyn, Kathryn Shay, Judith Arnold, Patricia McLinn, Teresa Hill and me. You can’t go wrong–on the hero or the books. Here’s the link: ValentinesHeroes.

In LOVE, AFTER ALL – West Coast Happily-Ever-After #5, Arley, the hero in the meme above, is a great guy with a big heart. (He’s also a trust fund baby who is a bit bored and a little lost.) His current windmill-worthy mission is helping a sweet old woman fight the Powers That Be to keep her pet pig, Cuddles. Arley’s “1%er” parents aren’t amused. And they’re even less pleased when Arley is photographed kissing his attorney, Gwyneth–the woman Arley knows is his one and only true love. But convincing Gwyneth they’re destined to be together might be the biggest challenge of his life.

I hope your VALENTINE’S DAY is delightful–or, in my case, less eventful!

Confession time: I used to hate offering contests on my website.

Why?

Because they took so much time. At the end of the contest, I’d write every entry on a piece of paper, cut the names into individual squares, put them in a box and call my granddaughter to come pull a name for me.

Archaic, right?

Then my pal, Rogenna, author and blog guru, told me about Rafflecopter. Believe it or not, I managed to set this up on my website–with a little help from my computer guru, David Newberry. Last month’s drawing was a breeze. Rafflecopter picked the winner. Her name, coincidentally, was Rogenna. 🙂

So, May’s Contest is now up and running. (Click HERE to go to the contest page.)

I don’t know how it works, but it does. And one of the great prizes, I’m pleased and excited to offer is a copy of Love Me Some Cowboy, the soon-to-be-released 5-book compilation from five of my favorite authors: Lisa Mondello, Barbara McMahon, Jean Brashear (who is up for 2 Ritas this year), Ginger Chambers and Day Leclaire (who is up for her 13th Rita this year).

The winner will also get any book in my Screw Senility! series, PLUS a $25 Amazon gift card!

So what are you waiting for? Sign up now. Your chances are a whole lot better than the lottery–and it’s free to enter.

Deb

PS: If you’d like to share your special story of cowboy love, come on over to Goodreads. We’ve got a chat going on!

Oh, happy day — a very Good Friday!

Spring has arrived in wild, reckless profusion. The birds are carrying on something fierce outside my window. A small green and black snake just wound his way through my newly planted garden.

I love Spring. And the Easter Holiday is one of my personal favorites. I have great memories of dressing up in all my newly purchased finery–hats and gloves were a must–to go to church.

Competitive egg dying is a more recent thing, but when my nephews showed up at Grandma’s, egg hunting became a contact sport.
Nowadays, I’m seeing all sorts of toys, games, hair ties, kites and non-candy goodies showing up in Easter baskets.

This Sunday, several generations will gather at my brother’s and sister-in-law’s home to watch the “old” kids hide eggs for the “new” kids while parents snap pics and grandparents snap pics of their kids snapping pics.

I will be taking the day to turn the “online” off and reconnect via “face time,” not Facebook. But, since this is a writer’s blog, I thought I’d spread some reading goodness in case you’d like to treat yourself to some fun, spring books for your eReaders libraries. Click on any image to take you right to the Amazon page.

May you begin next week and the new month with hope renewed.
Happy Easter! And Happy Spring!
Deb

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Food and family. It’s Christmas with none of the pressure.

Sure, I wish it came a few weeks earlier as our astute neighbors to the north figured out. Mid-October would–wait, might–keep Christmas from encroaching on this middle-child holiday. (Although I will admit I’ve been seeing Christmas decor competing with Halloween recently.) But the whole Black Friday thing is making me crazy. CRAZY.

So, to keep it simple, I’m going to write down a list of things I’m thankful for…wait, is there an app for that? 😉 I want to be present–not think about buying presents at midnight. Midnight! All the stores are doing it. There are only a couple of things I’m interested in doing at midnight and, believe me, shopping isn’t one of them. 😉

1. My Hubby. I love this guy. He worked so hard to pull off my most excellent birthday party. He’s the hero of my love story no doubt about it.

2. My Kids. This includes my wonderful DIL. I’m proud of the two human beings I helped to raise. They are both hard-working, family-oriented, community-minded citizens of the world. I love them to pieces–Ruth, too, even though I didn’t raise her. But her wonderful parents did a great job, so I’m thankful for Frani and George, too.

3. My Granddaughters. Three unique individuals. Three smart, funny, kind, quirky, amazing little beings who are the absolute best reward for growing older.

4. Good health. Considering the cost of health care and insurance in this country–especially for self-employed individuals (like every writer I know), this is a HUGE deal. I wish this for all my friends.

5. Friends. My recent b-day was a great reminder of just how many wonderful people I am lucky enough to call my friend. Thank you all–this includes my online pals–for enriching my life.

6. Location, location, location. 🙂 As sad and frustrated I feel about some of the politics and some of the greed and some of the inhumanity that goes on in this country, I am equally amazed, impressed and heartened by the goodness, humanity and hope that I see, as well. Here are links to two stark examples that I ran across yesterday.

The first is about a group of animal lovers who rescued dogs that were going to “rounded up and shot”; the second is about the U.C. Davis pepper-spray incident. If you’ve already seen it, don’t bother looking again. It’s just plain wrong.